Devices for making a culture of micro-organisms having a culture medium which can be brought directly into contact with a specimen and then returned to a sealed container for growing micro-organisms picked up are known to the art as is seen, for example, in the disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 3,616,265, issued Oct. 26, 1971. Such devices have as their intended purpose providing office diagnosis within 24 hours without the necessity for a laboratory. In these devices the culture medium is in a solid form secured to a paddle or the like. The term solid as used herein is intended to connote a material which is capable of retaining its shape when secured to a culture paddle. The disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 3,616,265 is incorporated herein by reference.
This invention increases the versatility of such a device by including means to contain a liquid culture medium in a compartment separated from the compartment containing the solid culture medium. This is highly advantageous, since desirably the culture medium for some micro-organisms such as, for example, trichomonas vaginalis is in liquid form. Thus, for example, it is highly desirable to have a culturing device containing a liquid culture medium for trichomonas vaginalis along with a solid culture medium for Candida (Monilia) for differential diagnosis of vaginal infections.